As A Diabetic, I Know I Wouldn’t Survive A Zombie Apocalypse

Notes from the Type 2 Diabetic Diaries

Before I begin, this goes for anyone with a chronic illness, but especially diabetics.

I’m watching Zom 100 right now, which is about a young man who hates his job and feels like a zombie, until one day a real zombie apocalypse happens and he and his closest friends are running for their lives. It is a constant run, fight, run, fight pattern — and it is tiring.

Cue in us diabetics (I hate the term diabetic…we are human, but I’ll use the term for the sake of writing).

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Fatigue will get me caught

A sure-fire sign of diabetes is extreme fatigue.

Even when my blood sugars are doing well, I find myself fighting sleep. Just today, I clocked out early for my personal break just to lay down and catch some sleep.

During a zombie apocalypse, catching some sleep may be feasible for a time, but what if I feel sluggish?

What if I need to lie down real quick?

A hungry zombie won’t let me be.

So that’s the end.

The sugar highs and sugar lows will do me in

Another “beautiful” trait of diabetes, are the highs and lows we suffer often. For instance, if my sugar is too high, my eyesight gets blurry, or I have to urinate constantly, and other nasty things that can happen.

If my sugar is too low, I shiver, get anxious and very dizzy.

Sugar highs occur when there is too much carb intake or sugar intake. It causes the glucose level to rise, and my poor pancreas is working overtime, but my cells are resistant to it. Therefore, I can’t use the sugar as energy.

Sugar highs may seem bad, but even with good blood sugar management, sugar lows occur either from insulin meds that need to be decreased, or too much exercise — sugar lows will be the worst because as a flesh-eating zombie is chasing after me, I’ll be goofy, weak and too tired to run.

I’ll try to run as fast as I can, but how far and how fast?

It could be the end of me…

The need to manage the lows and highs

If we’re thinking realistically, then to survive, we will need to stock up on food. At this time, having an RV or a truck that can cross any terrain would be helpful — but it must be spacious to secure plenty of food stuffs and weapons.

To treat sugar lows(hypoglycemia), diabetics need to take their glucagon tablets, juice, or candies. Hopefully, this will be in steady supply during the apocalypse.

If you are having a sugar high(hyperglycemia), it requires a bit more finesse.

To bring your sugars down to a normal range, you’ll need to have your insulin pills or insulin shot with you. For those with Type 1 Diabetes, this will be a scary time for you, because you literally need the shot to survive. Exercise will not be enough.

Hopefully, there will be insulin packs stored and saved by individuals for that bolus of insulin needed.

As a Type 2 diabetic, exercise typically brings me down to a normal range, so I may just step out the vehicle to run a bit or if I am being chased by a zombie (the fast zombies), I can literally boost my health in this way!

If I am not fast enough…

It will be the end.

Stress raises blood sugars

Another “wonderful” charm about diabetes is that blood sugars rise when we are stressed out.

Even if you are eating well and exercising and getting plenty of rest, much like hypertension, your blood sugar levels can rise when faced with a crisis.

If there is a zombie apocalypse, the cortisol levels in our blood will be constant from fear and flight or fight mode, and blood sugars will be out of whack.

Then, it’s the end.

I know this journal entry seems bleak and without hope, but I like to think realistically. I mean, us diabetics would be seriously MESSED UP!

The constant blood sugar management, the lows and highs, the fatigue and dizziness are just the tip of the iceberg.

What about those of us who are in remission from diabetes? With a zombie apocalypse, it can awaken the chronic illness once more, and then what?

If there is a silver lining in all this, I can say that it motivates me to stay healthy and to try and put this thing into remission.